Youth Summit In Nn Focuses On Cooperation

NEWPORT NEWS — John Bradley told a story of a boy he knows who got expelled from school.

His teacher should have known about his life beyond school doors but probably just didn't have the time. The boy doesn't know his father, and his mother doesn't want him, Bradley said.

"He sleeps in four different places," Bradley said, "and when he does sleep, he sleeps on a sofa."

What the boy does have is the church, said Bradley, a minister at Macedonia Church in Newport News and an assistant director of a nonprofit group dedicated to educating children, especially about family values.

Bradley was talking to a small group who sat with him Saturday in a Warwick High School classroom. They were gathered as part of a Community Summit on Youth, held to bring the community's young people and adults together to help solve problems that young people face.

The Newport News Alliance for Youth, the city of Newport News, the public school system and Riverside Health System sponsored the six-hour summit.

Leaders of the summit took notes about discussions that will be studied and hopefully drafted into a plan for the city, said Rosanne Walters, executive director for the Newport News Alliance for Youth. The alliance is a group that brings together youth, adults, agencies and community groups to create environments where children have the chance to grow up healthy, nurtured and empowered.

During the afternoon, the 200 or so participants divided into small groups for sessions of various topics. The participants included students, parents, ministers, members of organizations dedicated to helping young people, and employees of the city government and school system.

Bradley joined in a session about how the faith community can build resources for young people. He and others in that group said many children's problems are the result mainly of growing up in broken families.

"That's the role I think the church has to play; it has to be the substitute for the family for now," Bradley said. "But the church can't do it alone."

He talked about the need for grants that would help pay for programs that help young people.

In another small group, about 15 people said they all agreed there are organizations that work to provide children with resources they need to succeed. But they said they are not well- publicized.

Joe Battle, of the city's Department of Parks and Recreation, helped lead that discussion.

"We all agree there are resources available, but we have to put together a forum," Battle said. "We need to get all these resources together, to make a commitment and do it."

The group decided there should be a forum held where the community, especially young people, can go to learn about organizations that help young people. It must be a forum, the group agreed, that targets the needs all children - honor roll students, average kids and kids having problems.

But they admitted it's sometimes hard to get the community to go to a meeting.

"Maybe we should bring the forum to them," said Matt Frigo, a Warwick High School senior.

Another participant followed, saying it could be brought to the schools during the school day.

As these small groups met, they were asked to think about three questions posed by the event's keynote speaker, Robert Francis.

Francis is the executive director of the Regional Youth Adult Substance Abuse Project in Bridgeport, Conn. He has 25 years of experience in leadership positions involving youth development, juvenile justice, child welfare and community development.

"For the adults here, how many of you know the life stories of the young people who you work with?" Francis asked during his morning speech. "For the young people here, I challenge you to think in the same way. How much do you know about them?"

And Francis asked the participants who gathered in Warwick's auditorium to think about what ways their organizations practice forming relationships between young people and adults.

"We as adults are not building firm relationships with young people," he said.

Young people often are not involved in decisions made by organizations that are working for them, Francis said. He offered advice to get young people involved in the community. For example, he encouraged adults to look at young people's talents and knowledge instead of their problems.

"Let's turn Newport News into one of the best places for young people in the United States," Francis said.

Stephanie Barrett can be reached at 247-4740 or by e-mail at sbarrett@dailypress.com

TIPS FOR INVOLVING YOUTH

Robert Francis, the keynote speaker of a Community Summit on Youth, offered tips for getting young people involved in community-building.

Francis is the executive director of the Regional Youth Adult Substance Abuse Project in Bridgeport, Conn. He has 25 years of experience in leadership positions involving youth development, juvenile justice, child welfare and community development.

Some of his suggestions include:

* Starting with young people's gifts, talents and knowledge, never with needs and problems.

* Sharing the conviction: Every community is filled with opportunities for young people to contribute, and there is no institution that can't find a useful role for young people.

* Fighting age segregation: Francis suggested that adults and young people do not often build firm relationships with each other, but they should.

* Moving as quickly as possible away from "Youth Advisory Boards," especially those with one or two youths.

* Rewarding and celebrating every effort, every contribution made by young people.

* In every way possible, amplifying the message to young people, "We need you! Our community cannot be strong and complete without you."